EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.  Quentin Jammer and Champ Bailey crossed paths on the sideline with a little more than minute remaining in the AFC Championship game, a trip to the Super Bowl assured for the Denver Broncos.

Both old cornerbacks had tears in their eyes. They knew they were on their way to their first Super Bowl.

“He’s been in 15, I’ve been in 12,” Jammer said. “We’ve been working our entire careers to get in one. For us to be there at the same time and turn to each other and say ‘We’re here,’ that was special.”

So, clearly this is emotional for Bailey, even though he has been typically minimal in his comments this week.

“It has been a long road, but I’m just taking it in stride,” said Bailey, long considered one of the game’s great gentlemen. “I’m not trying to hype it up more than it should be.”

On the surface, though, it seems others are more excited for Bailey, who may be playing his final game in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks.

There are numerous storylines for this game, including, of course, the legacy of Peyton Manning. But right there near the top is the chance that Bailey could finally be a champ.

At 35, the 12-time Pro Bowler and seven-time All-Pro has slowed down. He did not play the first five games of the season and was limited to five total games during the regular season due to a lisfranc injury in his left foot. Only in the past month has he been healthy enough to contribute substantially during games. He’s due $9 million next season, and it is unlikely the Broncos will pay anywhere close to that -- even for a man as beloved as Bailey is after 10 years in Denver.

“We’ve been thinking about that the whole season,” Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard said when asked about Bailey’s long wait to get to the Super Bowl. “It’s kind of like, this is one guy that everybody wants to win for. You know Champ, he’s a great person and a great teammate to be around, and we definitely want to get this victory for him and guys like Peyton.”

When watching Super Bowl XLVIII game, when seeing and hearing about the Seattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman, consider that Sherman was 11 years old when the Washington Redskins made Bailey the seventh overall pick in the 1999 draft.

Broncos teammates have been free with their opinion that Sherman’s proclamation that he is the NFL’s best cornerback is invalid, at worst, and disrespectful, at best. Bailey, though, is unruffled.

"I think it's a personality thing,” Bailey said. “He's a different person. I really can't speak for him, but that's the way he goes about his business. I have no problem with that. I like guys who are comfortable being themselves. If that makes him feel good about it then I'm all for it."

You think that’s tactful?

How about Bailey never stumbling all week, in the face of virtually unending questions, including those regarding his diminished skills.

"I'm supposed to lose a step at some point, right?” said Bailey, who before this season had played in fewer than 15 games just two seasons in his career. “It's going to happen. You can't avoid it. Every old player gets old. It's going to happen. I don't feel like I can't play the game and that's all that matters."

He’ll be playing today. Maybe for the last time. In the Super Bowl for the first time.

"Yeah, it's been tough, but I'm not looking back. I've felt good for about a good month, and I continue to feel better, and that's all I can ask for at this point. I can't get all those days and weeks back – that's behind me – but what's in front of me is big, and I know it. I understand it, I feel good, and I'm ready for it."